Case report

Difficulty in diagnosing the pathological nature of an acute fracture of the clavicle: a case report

Sheraz S Malik¹ , Saiqah Azad² , Shahbaz Malik³ and Caroline B Hing¹

¹  Department of Trauma & Orthopaedics, Watford General Hospital, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Watford, UK

²  Department of Medicine, Watford General Hospital, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Watford, UK

³  Department of Trauma & Orthopaedics, Barnet General Hospital, Barnet & Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, Barnet, UK

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research 2009, 4:21doi:10.1186/1749-799X-4-21

Published:	25 June 2009

Abstract

Fractures of the clavicle comprise between 5% to10% of all fractures. Medial clavicular fractures are uncommon and are normally caused by high-energy trauma. A low impact mechanism of injury should raise suspicion of a pathological fracture, but this case report highlights the difficulty in diagnosing the pathological nature of an acute fracture of the clavicle. We describe a patient who presented with a medial clavicular fracture after a simple fall but the fracture was diagnosed as pathological in retrospect four months after the initial presentation. We would also like to emphasise that the medial clavicle is the most frequent site of pathological fractures of the clavicle, and the possibility of an underlying pathological condition should be considered whenever a patient with a medial clavicular fracture is encountered.